Social Media Policy

Policy Owner	Human Resources
Last Reviewed	June 2020
Version	1

Purpose

This Social Media Policy aims to inform our employees, consultants and contractors of the acceptable standards of use as individuals engage in conversations or interactions using social media for business and personal use, aligned with our Values of Integrity, Leadership, Customer and Innovation.

Our Social Media Policy is a part of our Code of Conduct Framework, which endeavours to promote and maintain honest, ethical, and thoughtful behaviour where we are all genuinely acting in the best interests of Oz Security.

Policy

When using social media, whether for private or business purposes, or during or outside of work hours, all employees, consultants and contractors must ensure that their use of social media and the Internet is in accordance with this Policy, with attention paid to the Social Media Usage Standards described in this Policy and more broadly, Oz Security’s expectations described in other policies.

Only individuals who have specific, written authorisation from Oz Security may use social media for business use.

Complying with this Policy is a requirement of ongoing employment or engagement with Oz Security. Disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment or engagement, may be taken against any employee found to be in breach of this Policy.

What is Social Media?

Social media includes, but is not limited to, online collaborative information and publishing systems, blogs, microblogs, podcasts, discussion forums, RSS feeds, video sharing and social network sites and the like, and includes social media forms in existence now and those which come into existence. By way of example, but without limitation, it includes:

Social Networks – allow users to add friends, send messages and share content. Examples: Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn;

Social Bookmarking – interaction by tagging websites and searching through websites bookmarked or hash tagged by other people;

Social News – interacting by voting for articles and commenting on them. Examples: Digg, Propeller and Reddit;

Video and Photo sharing – allow you to upload photos or videos and to comment on other users’ submissions. Examples: YouTube, snapchat, and Flickr;

Micro-blogs – are a type of blog that allows you to broadcast short messages to subscribers of the micro blog. Example: Twitter;

Blogs, including corporate and personal blogs and those hosted by media outlets – are online journals where you can write (blog) about any interest you want. Examples: WordPress and Blogger;

Online encyclopaedias – allow multiple users working on the same content to add articles and edit existing articles online at different times and from different places. Example: Wikipedia;

Wikis and online collaborations – Example: Wikipedia;

Forums, discussion boards and groups – Examples: Google groups and Whirlpool;

Vod (Video on Demand) – which allows users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content such as movies and TV shows;

Podcasts (an episodic series of digital media files which a user can set up so that new episodes are automatically downloaded via web syndication to the user’s own local computer or portable media player);

Online multiplayer gaming platforms – Examples: World of Warcraft and Second life;

Instant Messaging – Examples: SMS and iMessaging; and

Any other web sites that allow individual users or companies to use online or wireless (mobile) publishing tools or applications.

Scope

Who Is Covered By Our Social Media Policy?

The Social Media Policy applies to all employees throughout Australia, and to the extent relevant, all consultants and contractors who have been engaged to provide services to Oz Security.

To the extent that this Policy contains any obligation on the part of Oz Security, these are to be regarded as guidelines only, not contractual obligations or offers capable of acceptance, nor representations on which individuals should or may rely.

When Does The Policy Apply?

Responsibilities

All Employees, Contractors and Consultants: are responsible for familiarising themselves and complying with our Social Media Policy. The obligation is on the individual to meet the expectations of this Policy.

Any individual who is not specifically authorised by Oz Security to undertake a social media engagement as a part of their role are advised to be mindful in their activities to ensure that they comply with their obligations under this Policy in respect of their social media engagements.

As a guide, individuals must at a minimum take into account the following considerations to ensure they comply with their obligations under this Policy:

Assume that any social media engagement will become public. It may initially be intended by you to be private, but you cannot fully control how others will access or use your social media engagement. People may have access authorised by you or may gain unauthorised access.

It is important to note that it will not be an excuse if a breach of this Policy occurs due to your social media engagement being limited by you to those within an authorised group. This is because of your inability to control how others can use your social media engagement. Friends (or former friends) can share it with others either on purpose or accidentally. It is a good practice to never be involved with any form of social media engagement or use that, if made public, would breach this or any other Oz Security Policy.

We all need to remember that each social media engagement is often very brief. A few words, or a “like” or sharing something, or a brief comment, does not let viewers know the full context or your intent. What they see and perceive becomes the external reality.

We understand that you cannot entirely disconnect your private life from your work/services. Out of hours or private social media engagement is seen by people and can therefore have a perception of, or actual connection with, Oz Security regardless of when the social media engagement occurred. Parts of our business are high profile and involved in work of high media interest, such as Oz Security. If you display an opinion, attitude or even a concern via social media which may reflect on Oz Security, this can put your employment or engagement at risk.

Accordingly, you must be mindful when you use social media and, when engaging in social media, you must be responsible for how public perception of your engagement may reflect on Oz Security and its values of Integrity, Leadership, Customer and Innovation.

All Employees: are responsible for reporting any social media engagement that may be in breach of this Policy by escalating the matter to a Manager or Human Resources to ensure reasonable and appropriate action can be taken.

Human Resources: is responsible for maintaining this Policy and for providing relevant guidance and support in the interpretation of this Policy and support in regards to mitigating or resolving any breach or suspected breach of this Policy.

Social Media Usage Standards

Social Media for Authorised Business Use

If an employee is authorised by the CEO to represent Oz Security in social media, the individual will be required to follow this Policy and the following standards.

Authorised Persons are required to:

disclose that they are employed by or associated with Oz Security (as applicable), the business unit they are representing and details of their role and responsibilities; and

disclose only publicly available information.

Clarification about what Oz Security information is in the public domain should be sought from the relevant business unit manager. If in any doubt as to whether information is in the public domain, information should not be disclosed until clarification has been obtained.

Authorised Persons must in all of their social media engagements:

be respectful of all individuals and communities with which they interact online;

be polite in their response to others’ opinions, even in times of heated discussions and debate;

obey the terms of use, copyright, privacy, fair use and other applicable laws when publishing on social media platforms; and

adhere to this Policy.

Authorised Persons:

Must:

take all appropriate steps to ensure that any content published is factually accurate;

ensure that any content complies with relevant Oz Security Policies, particularly those relating to confidentiality and disclosure;

ensure that the appropriate internal clearances and approvals have been received prior to publishing any information on behalf of Oz Security;

respect copyright;

only offer advice, support, and comments, on topics that fall within their area of specific responsibility at work or as contracted and within their written authority to comment;

keep records. It is critical that we keep records of our interactions in the online social media space. Because online conversations are often fleeting and immediate, it is important for the individual to keep track of these and record them when they are officially representing Oz Security. Remember that online statements can be held to the same legal standards as traditional media communications; and

abide by all of the points set out in the Section of this Policy titled, ‘Responsibilities’.

Must Not:

have social media engagements where you are unsure about what Oz Security would want you to say or do in that specific instance. If you must comment or reply etc., say something to the effect that you will “come back to them on that” and check with the relevant Manager;

participate in any social media engagement which represents or may be seen to represent Oz Security unless expressly approved in advance by the Chief Executive Officer or by an approved delegate of the Chief Executive Officer;

engage in any behaviour that has any capacity to impact negatively on the reputation or brand of Oz Security;

disclose confidential or sensitive information about Oz Security such as financial information, future business performance, and business plans etc.;

name or refer to directors, employees, suppliers, customers, contractors, partners, or clients online unless you have obtained their express permission beforehand;

use pseudonyms or a false identity;

post material (including photos) that is, or may reasonably be regarded by members or sections of the public as disparaging, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, discriminatory or hateful to another person or entity, including Oz Security, its employees, its contractors, its partners, its competitors and/or other business related individuals or organisations; or

disclose others’ personal and/or commercial or confidential information on any site or social media venues.

Social Media For All Other Uses, Including Personal Use

Whether your social media engagement activity is in the workplace or for work or contractual purposes or for personal use, or even if your social media activities take place completely outside of Oz Security and on personal devices, you are advised to be mindful of your approach to ensure you comply with your obligations under this Policy. What you do or communicate in social media engagements can have an impact on:

your ability to conduct and meet your job responsibilities or contractual obligations;

your teammates’ abilities to do their jobs;

the business interests of the Oz Security and its clients, suppliers and other business partners; and/or

your employment or engagement with Oz Security.

As set out in the Section titled, ‘Responsibilities’, your job/engagement with Oz Security can be affected by your private and out of hours involvement in social media. Social media is something which is not capable of complete control by the user and either deliberately or inadvertently your private social media engagements can become public. They can become known and visible to our business stakeholders (such as Oz Security clients, suppliers and partners) and future users of our services both public and corporate, your fellow employees and contractors, and to the media. The perception of people seeing your social media engagements, sometimes without full context and even without your permission, can very quickly become a reality which may impact negatively on Oz Security.

Obligations

Following are some examples of the obligations which apply to you and your personal online activities, whether or not you refer to or be identified as having a connection Oz Security and even if you are outside the workplace or engaging in online activity outside business hours and/or on a personal device. These more specific examples of your obligations do not limit your general obligations to comply with all aspects of this Policy.

Personal Liability

What you write is ultimately always regarded by Oz Security as your responsibility and you should recognise that you are legally liable for anything you write, share, ‘like’ or present online, including in any social media engagement.

You may expose yourself to legal consequences and even be personally liable for damage caused by your social media activity if it is harmful to Oz Security or other organisations and people.
Employees can be disciplined (up to and including dismissal) and contractors and consultants can have their engagement terminated for breaching this policy.

Termination of employment or engagement may occur on the basis of, for example, commentary, content or images that are defamatory, pornographic, proprietary, harassing, libellous, disparaging

of or which attack or criticise fellow employees, consultants, contractors, supervisors, management or Oz Security, which can or do reflect poorly or negatively on a business within Oz Security or which can jeopardise the commercial reputation or standing of any business or person within Oz Security, or jeopardise current or future work of Oz Security, or which do or could reasonably be anticipated to create a hostile or unsafe working environment.

Do Not:

disclose Confidential Information – any Confidential Information, proprietary or trade secrets must not be disclosed on social media under any circumstances (see our Confidential Information , Intellectual Property & Security Policy for further detail);
use our company logos or any trademarks without explicit written authority – this is to prevent the appearance that you speak for or represent Oz Security officially;
make critical or defamatory comments about Oz Security or its directors, employees or business stakeholders – this includes “bad mouthing” which will not be tolerated and may result in legal action and disciplinary action as set out in Section 6 below; or
discuss Oz Security or Oz Security-related issues on social media platforms without the prior requisite authorisation by Oz Security as described in this Policy.

Do:

In any social media engagement, our People must always:

ensure that, regardless of their intent or motivation, they do not knowingly, recklessly or negligently use the identity of another member of the Oz Security team or an employee of a Oz Security business stakeholder and/or other business-related individuals or organisations or competitors;

remember and comply with all your Responsibilities as set out above in Section 4, as well as all other parts of this Policy;

ensure that all aspects of your social media engagements will not negatively impact on or cause damage to Oz Security, our brand or commercial interests;

avoid using Oz Security, or Oz Security-related references, images, logos or trademarks in social media postings unless they have prior authorisation by Oz Security as described in this Policy;

be respectful to Oz Security People and business stakeholders and/or other business-related individuals or organisations and competitors;

make sure that personal online activities do not interfere with the performance of your job or engagement and ensure that you refrain from using social media during business hours; and

consider all actions relating to social media engagements carefully in light of how they may reflect on you, Oz Security, and/or our People or business stakeholders.

Monitoring, Breaches & Reporting

Monitoring

Oz Security’s designated system controller (IT Helpdesk) monitors traffic to and from the server, as well as the integrity of the overall network. Oz Security may also investigate and monitor your personal social media interactions for the purpose of proactively ensuring ongoing compliance with this Policy.

Inappropriate Use of Social Media

Inappropriate use of social media may breach the terms of this Policy. We cannot list every scenario or possible instance of inappropriate use, and therefore the following list of examples aims to provide some guidance on the type of usage that would be considered a breach of this Policy. Inappropriate social media usage in breach of this Policy would include, but is not limited to:

conducting private business on Oz Security’s social media presence;

using discriminatory, bullying, disparaging, defamatory, abusive or otherwise objectionable language or behaviour;

social media engagements which (whether intentional or not) do or might reasonably be expected to reflect negatively upon or criticise or damage Oz Security, our People or our current and future business stakeholders;

stalking, bullying, harassing or marginalising any individual or group;

accessing or uploading pornographic, gambling-related or illegal content;

accessing sites that promote hatred towards any individual or group;

uploading information of a confidential or sensitive nature to Oz Security;

hacking or attempting to infiltrate the systems of Oz Security or another organisation;

criticising or denigrating Oz Security, or other organisations, and our/their People;

activity that interferes with Oz Security’s work/contractual commitments;

activity that uses excessive bandwidth, either uploading or downloading, within the Oz Security network; or

paid endorsement of any kind, including in kind services or gifts.

Reporting Breaches

All of our People have a responsibility to report breaches of the Policy. In the first instance, you are encouraged to take the matter up with your immediate Oz Security Supervisor or Manager, or a member of Human Resources Team.

Additional Information

Where To Go If You Have Questions

If you have any questions about this Policy or Social Media use, please speak to your Manager or a member of the Human Resources Team.

Policy Review

This Policy is maintained by Oz Security’s Human Resources, in conjunction with the Executive Team, and may be revised from time to time based on legislative requirements and to ensure relevance to our business operations. It does not form part of an individual’s contract of employment or engagement.
You are welcome to contact humanresources@ozsecuritygroupau.com with any suggestions, feedback or questions.